Noninvasive assessment of liver stiffness by transient elastography (FibroScan) in liver fluke disease.

AIM: Transient elastography is a noninvasive and reliable method for the assessment of liver stiffness. This study aimed to assess liver stiffness of asymptomatic liver fluke disease patients by FibroScan and evaluate the factors influencing liver stiffness.

METHODS

Overall, 65 patients were prospectively recruited from The First People's Hospital of Foshan, Guangdong, China. All patients were diagnosed with liver fluke disease; their durations of ingested freshwater raw fish or shrimp were more than 10 years, and none of them had abnormal liver function and hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus infection, or clinical symptoms. All patients underwent FibroScan, blood biochemical examination, and BMI measurement on the same day. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values, sex, age, durations of ingested freshwater raw fish or shrimp, and BMI were recorded. LSM value greater than 7.4 kPa was defined as abnormal.

RESULTS

A total of 27 patients (41.5%) had abnormal LSM values. On partial correlation analysis, duration of ingested freshwater raw fish or shrimp was the independent factor that showed a positive correlation with abnormal LSM values (r=0.502, P=0.012). An independent-samples t-test showed that the durations of patients with abnormal LSM values were significantly longer than the durations of patients with normal LSM values (P<0.001). Sex, age, and BMI were not significantly correlated with LSM values (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

A high proportion of asymptomatic liver fluke disease patients had abnormal LSM values. The durations of patients with abnormal LSM values were significantly longer than the durations of patients with normal LSM values and the durations of patients with abnormal LSM values were an independent factor that showed a positive correlation with abnormal LSM values.